All My Summons Become Divine Girls

Chapter 273: The Lord Arrives Late

Hajin landed beside the northern furrow while Kenny’s body folded against the broken command socket behind him.

The six spear carriers lowered their weapons toward his back, trying to reach the wounded before he could turn.

Aegis opened from the two Rings around his right forearm, curving over all seven survivors as the first volley struck.

Spearheads stopped against the barrier, leaving their shafts bent while the carriers stumbled away from the reflected force.

Hajin could cross the remaining distance before they recovered, putting Dreth within reach after one more step.

Ressa’s shield shifted behind him when the worker beneath it convulsed, spilling fresh blood through the split near his leg.

Dreth pulled his spear from Kenny instead of raising it toward Hajin, then motioned the nearby file toward the pass.

"First and third files withdraw to the shoulder," he ordered, stepping behind the portable mantlet, "carry the firing controls, leave the broken socket."

The spear carriers retreated without attacking again, taking their bent weapons while two shield bearers covered Dreth’s route.

Hajin kept Aegis over the bank, watching the commander move beyond a line he could reach within seconds.

The pinned worker choked behind him, forcing his attention back toward the seven people who had no seconds left.

He called Vella through their contract while lowering one Aegis layer beneath the bodies to stop the ribs from shifting.

Violet light gathered beside Ressa before Vella emerged on one knee, placing both hands against the nearest survivor.

"Do not pull the iron yet," she said, sending golden mana around the pinned shoulder, "two will bleed out if the pressure changes."

"I have seven critical markers," Hajin replied, keeping the upper barrier between them and the withdrawing files, "tell me where you need another channel."

Vella checked the worker beneath Ressa’s shield, then followed his blood across the torn leg without touching the wound.

"Take him plus the defender near the roots," she said, dividing her golden threads among the other five, "hold their circulation where it is."

Assimilation pulled her healing mana through Hajin’s left hand while he pressed it against the lower Aegis layer.

Gold spread beneath both patients through the barrier, entering their wounds without requiring him to move either body.

Aria separated their circulation inside Divine Eyes, marking every point where his rough seals pushed too much mana.

"Ease the chest line by twelve percent," she said, placing a second warning over the defender, "his heart is fighting you, which is useful."

Hajin reduced the channel until the warning changed from red to amber, then locked its shape inside Aegis.

Dreth’s mantlets withdrew uphill during the treatment, joining separated files gathering along the prepared pass shoulder.

Every fighter remained within range of a charge, but their firing lanes still pointed toward the wounded under Hajin.

He could kill the nearest file before it reached cover, although dropping either Aegis layer would expose seven patients.

’I was late,’ he thought, feeding more golden mana through the defender’s chest seal, ’killing them faster will not change that.’

The worker under Ressa opened his eyes after several attempts, finding Hajin above him instead of the shield leader.

"She pushed us down when the first ribs opened," he said, gripping the damaged shield strap, "then she stood over both of us."

Hajin looked toward Ressa’s back, where the iron had passed through her before reaching the ground beneath them.

"Did anyone attack after the offer?" he asked, keeping his left hand against the healing layer, "Lana will need what you saw."

"Ressa raised her empty hand," the worker replied, swallowing between words, "she said we surrendered, then Dreth pulled the lever."

The statement matched the white-flag board beside the firing controls, though Lana had not witnessed the act herself.

It would enter her office as survivor testimony beside Hajin’s direct account, not as another fact carried by rumor.

The second clinic flare faded behind the ridge before Juna appeared above the broken irrigation channel carrying a coiled rope.

Hans reached the overlook behind her with four clinic workers, two collapsed frames, plus every strap they could carry.

Hajin extended a narrow Aegis crossing from the northern furrow, holding it beneath the rope while Juna secured both ends.

The clinic workers crossed one at a time, keeping their empty frames folded until they reached Vella’s protected side.

Hans followed last with the casualty roll inside his coat, studying Ressa before checking the seven treatment markers.

"Seven alive, nine dead," Hajin said, guiding him around the lower healing layer, "Ressa is among the dead, every survivor needs a clinic entry."

"Kenny?" Hans asked, looking toward the body beside the command socket while opening the roll.

"Separate Flint death," Hajin replied, keeping his eyes on Dreth’s withdrawal, "he refused the finishing order and cut their northern control line."

Hans wrote the distinction beneath Ressa’s entry, leaving room for Lana to attach both witness accounts after recovery.

Juna crossed the Aegis bridge after the workers, her ears fixed toward the files disappearing behind the pass shoulder.

"All one hundred fifty-six are pulling into prepared positions," she said, tightening the rope beside the frames, "Dreth is not retreating from the road."

"He does not need to," Hajin replied, checking the seven markers, "we cannot move them until Vella removes the ribs."

Vella cut through the first rib with a narrow violet thread, using golden mana to close the shoulder wound around its path.

Two clinic workers lifted the freed defender onto a frame, although his marker remained inside the serious-treatment range.

The other six required separate removals, leaving Hajin’s Aegis fixed over the bank while Dreth gained the pass.

Kenny’s body remained outside the barrier until Juna crossed to retrieve him, carrying him beside Ressa without touching the broken socket.

Hajin had known the man as a liar plus coward, and neither description became false because of one refusal.

He still ordered Hans to place Kenny under a separate cover, preserving the name of the person Dreth killed for disobeying.

Vella removed the final rib after every clinic frame stood ready, then checked the seven markers against Aria’s treatment screen.

[ Critical patients stabilized: 7 / 7 ]

[ Safe transport conditions met: 4 / 7 ]

"The other three move under your healing layer," Vella said, wiping blood from one hand, "drop it now and they reopen before the ridge."

Hajin kept both Rings turning while Hans arranged the four stable patients at the center of the return line.

Beyond them, Dreth planted his spear into a larger socket beneath the pass while mantlets locked across its prepared shoulder.